The Conference

The Speakers

Mother-Child Health: International Strategies

Building a Future for Women and Children

"Countdown’s new report, Building a Future for Women and Children: The 2012 Report, highlights country progress—and obstacles to progress—towards achieving Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 4 and 5 to reduce child mortality and improve maternal health. It focuses, like previous Countdown reports, on evidence-based solutions—health interventions proven to save lives—and on the health systems, policies, financing and other factors that affect the equitable delivery of these lifesaving interventions to women and children. Updated country profiles for 75 Countdown countries were published together with the report." (pdf)

Melinda Gates’ New Crusade: Investing Billions in Women's Health

"She plans to use the Gates Foundation’s billions to revolutionize contraception worldwide. The Catholic right is pushing back. Is she ready for the political firestorm ahead?", asks the magazine Newsweek.

London Summit: Everyone Has the Right to Family Planning

"In London on 11 July on the same day as World Population Day, the UK Government and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will host the Family Planning Summit. (...) There are hundreds of millions of women in developing countries who want to delay or avoid a pregnancy but are not using an effective method of family planning. The Summit aims to provide an additional 120 million women in the world’s poorest countries with access lifesaving contraceptives, services and information by 2020."

World Bank must re-evaluate its strategies to cut maternal mortality

Guardian Online | "The World Bank must re-evaluate its strategies for reducing maternal mortality if it is ever going to live up to its claim of being a "global leader" in improving reproductive health. The bank must increase the number of grants it provides to expand access to reproductive and maternal healthcare — including post-abortion care — and eliminate any fees attached to these vital services," writes Elizabeth Arend on Guardian Online.